Marlene King on Making Social Media History With Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liarsis the most tweeted about show in history. With Twitter and other forms of social media becoming an increasingly important way to measure fandom, what does this mean for Pretty Little Liars and what does the accomplishment mean for showrunner Marlene King?

“It means we have a relationship with our fans and they have a relationship with us, which we really embrace,” Marlene told The Writers’ Room, the Sundance Channel show she just appeared on with Shay Mitchell (Emily), Sasha Pieterse (Alison), and co-producers Oliver Goldstick and Joseph Dougherty.

Marlene continued: “We have a remarkable tool. Those fans are very empowered, and they can make things happen. They can, if we say ‘Let’s trend #Emison if you want Emily and Alison to be together,’ and, within five minutes, Emison will be a trending topic on Twitter. That is the power of the Pretty Little Liars social media fanbase.” Hear that, PLLers? We have power.

Oliver pointed out that Twitter metrics are becoming a better — or, at least, different — way to determine viewership: “It’s actually, from a network standpoint, it’s become another metric, faster and more accurate than other audience-measuring things because it’s an indicator of passion more than just watching.”

Shay agreed, mentioning how she makes it a point to connect with the fans on Twitter while the episodes are airing — something she wishes she could have done with her favorite TV show actors growing up: “I don’t go on Twitter that often, but every Tuesday when I’m watching the show, I will host #PlayWithShay’s because I am online, talking,” Shay said. “And, you know, if I had been able to do that during The O.C. when I was a fan of that show, to know that I could talk to Mischa Barton would have been amazing.”

Do you think Twitter is a good way to measure audience passion? Is it part of your way of being a TV fan? Sound off in the comments below!

Catch the Pretty Little Liars Season 5 premiere on Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC Family.

Kayti Burt is a contributing writer for Wetpaint Entertainment with a penchant for all things pop culture. Follow her on Twitter and Google+!